drbob

For cruising my 930: 20L plastic water drum (the squareish one) strapped under a berth with hose from the spigot to a hand pump at the sink, plus a spare tank in aft locker Porta pottie toilet with 18litre(?) holding tank plus a spare in the aft locker I had a stainless tube (like stanchion tube) made to fit in place of top transom lifeline. This then had starport things to hold an 80W solar panel. Panel had a strut down to the transom top to brace it. I was only running an 85Ah battery which was bit small Waeco compressor fridge Pots and pans and plates etc in two plastic bins under the sto

leave them attached, simply buy new ones and give the original owner those?

emailed

Airship keel is now off. Apparently the nuts were loose, but the bolts tight as a whatzit. Was planning to go the Redline route and put in new floors between the existing, but thinking now just to go the Entertainer route and just replace with what we need. The logic is: 1. we don't actually know much about the existing ones; 2. we can put new ones in to align with new bolts.

I have a six person, not currently in service but I will have it serviced for a cat 3 race in November, so it could be done for the coastal. In case your other options run out.

Well, I'm about to actually get the keel done on Airship - boat comes out Monday. The can is ex-Recreation and 1840mm long, new 720kg bulb by Mike Rees Castings. The fin will be faired to a new profile from Brett Bakewell-White. The work will be done by Matt at MG Composites in Welly. I'm currently trying to work out what documentation is needed - based on series date of around 1983 the YNZ regs indicate full-on ISO certification is not required unless I want Cat 2 or better. But obviously I want to know the structure will support the new loads, and to get Cat 3 I need a level of d

Kaiarahi is a third bigger than Arahura, will do similar volume in two return trips as Arahura did in three.

The Stena Alegra has been leased, overhauled, and renamed Kaiarahi

From the KiwiRail staff newsletter, article by Julie Buchanan: After 32 years of service and more than 52,000 Cook Strait crossings, Interislander ferry Arahura made her last return journey between Wellington and Picton on Wednesday 29 July. More than 500 passengers booked her final sailings to say goodbye. Her final journey was one to remember, with news crews from One Network News and TV3 News covering it in their 6pm bulletins. Passengers enjoyed a complimentary glass of bubbles on arrival, music by the band Uncle Monkey, Zappo the magician for the children and memento gift packs wer

Me and a couple of the crew emptied the 'ship out ahead of pushing her into the shed for keel and cockpit replacement. This week I'll be cutting out the false floor and grinding off the interior gel coat. Then I made pies roast lamb and vegetable pies for the race management team, but the racing was cancelled, so guess what I'm having for lunch

"This is a moment. People should watch it. They should sit their freakin' kids down and say, think about this technology. Think about people who worked on this for 25 years to bring this knowledge... It's a long way to go to the outer edge, the very edge of the solar system." http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/69604570/nasas-new-horizons-space-probe-finally-within-sight-of-pluto http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html (Kind of makes KM's project look positively flippant)

I have a neck injury which is aggravated by the weight or fit of inflatable PFDs. Spent a bit of money going through the basic Hutchwilco inflatable then a Kru (better) then settled on the Spinlock Deckvest auto inflate. I now have an offshore version with tether attachment (harness) and the inshore Deckvest Lite (no harness). The Lite is snug and compact to the point I am not aware of wearing it. And it doesn't aggravate my injury. Hasn't accidentally inflated yet. Pretty sure the same were worn by several on a boat in the recent Central Triangle without accidental triggering.

Was in Bunnings a couple of days ago and did see cylinder connections with a tee.

I think one of the things about DSC-equipped radios is you can have the radio on and volume turned right down but it will alert you audibly if it receives an emergency signal. I've got mine set up with a list of my friends' radio ids so I can select the number and channel and my friend's radio alerts him to my call and switches to that channel. The VHF is a Standard Horizon with built-in AIS receiver. I have it connected to a separate GPS, but the later model has GPS built-in. The AIS is very useful to show if there's a big ferry coming my way out of sight around the point. Back

Was this a delivery of a new purchase?

Whiting half tonner? I think Candu II might be for sale in Welly. Last I saw she'd been refit inside.

Yesterday I went sailing. Bart put the new rig in on Wednesday. Gordy got the boom finished at short notice. Matty G did some fiddly bits. With Rodney yesterday morning we finished running all the other bits of string. Then we went sailing in a cold and wet southerly. It's good to be sailing on your own boat again.

So it sounds like get a vsr that ISN'T dual sensing, get a MPPT solar controller (maximizes solar), and put in a three way splitter.